STUART Andrews spent the first decades of his life in the shadow of his maverick ‘‘genius’’ father Peter on the Bylong Valley property, Tarwyn Park, that was both paradise and battleground.
Now father and son barely speak after Stuart Andrews sold Tarwyn Park – the property hailed as the beacon for sustainable Australian land use in the future – to Korean mining company Kepco in February last year as it seeks approval for an open-cut coal mine.
‘‘For three years we made a stand against mining, but I knew we couldn’t hold them out forever because they have the law on their side,’’ Stuart Andrews said this week. ‘‘It reached a point where I thought, am I going to drag my family through what my father dragged us through, because you’re on your own.
The lack of public protest about Kepco’s purchase of almost all privately owned farm land in the Upper Hunter’s Bylong Valley and increasingly strident political support for coal mining at both federal and state levels ‘‘led us to make a decision to sell’’, Mr Andrews said.
His family was shattered by Peter Andrews’ decades-long battle for recognition of sustainability reforms at Tarwyn Park that directly challenged established Australian land use practices.
In 2005 Peter Andrews’ fight to have his unorthodox land-use practices at Tarwyn Park understood and accepted by the scientific community and government was shown on the ABC’s Australian Story, and later became the segment most viewers wanted to see again.
On Monday Australian Story returns to Tarwyn Park for the fallout of the farm’s sale to Kepco.
Peter Andrews said this week that he encouraged his son to sell to Kepco when the Korean company bought out exploration licence holder Anglo Coal.
‘‘I told him to sell, but only because his life would have been destroyed if he’d fought it – just like mine’s been,’’ Peter Andrews said.
The rift between father and son, which both men trace back many years, has deepened because of events after the sale.
Retailer Gerry Harvey, who has had success with Peter Andrews’ ‘‘natural sequence’’ methods on two Hunter properties and has regular contact with both men, said Tarwyn Park’s sale for a mine was ‘‘a pity because it’s always a pity if you sell up good floodplain land and it’s mined’’.
‘‘Once it’s gone, it’s gone,’’ he said.
‘‘You could put a spade in the ground at Tarwyn Park and say ‘holy hell’ because it’s beautiful soil. Full of worms. It was like an oasis compared to everywhere else, but Peter has always argued his methods can be replicated.’’
University of Newcastle academic Peter Stevens has described Peter Andrews’ land use reforms as of inestimable value: “If ever there was a property that represents the quintessential Australian landscape and how it can be developed and used in the long term for productivity, Tarwyn Park is it.”
Stuart Andrews and his family can stay at Tarwyn Park for a number of years under the agreement signed with Kepco.
An environmental assessment of the project is yet to be placed on public exhibition.
Mr Andrews said the reality of ending his relationship with Tarwyn Park would not hit until he walked out the gate. He reserves his strongest criticism for politicians: ‘‘The mining companies are just doing what the rules say they’re allowed to do. It’s the politicians who don’t understand the impacts, on the environment and families and communities, and they don’t care.’’
Entire Article Here
Must watch the Australian Story tonight if this is on.
I guess our farms are all we have left to sell off. We've let all our manufacturing and industry go, and sold off all our utilities.
